Pentek recently introduced a new 3U system that’s pre-configured and tailored to your application. I found this interesting because Pentek can populate the system with whatever boards you like, even if they have to order them from other suppliers. The Model 8267 is part of the company’s Spark initiative.

I was really intrigued that a traditional board company would go out and buy boards from another vendor to pre-configure a system (obviously it wouldn’t apply to a board that Pentek offers). One of the key reasons for offering this service is that it ensures that the system works properly when it leaves the factory. The OEM’s engineers don’t have to integrate the software to make it work. While most of the time those engineers get it right, the times when they don’t means a call back to Pentek’s tech support. So the Spark program simply heads off that call, resulting in happy customers.

The Model 8267 is a pre-configured 3U VPX system that can work with the company’s Flexor FMC, Cobalt Virtex-6, and Onyx Virtex-7 FPGA 3U VPX software radio and data acquisition I/O boards. The system can run Windows 7 Professional or Linux operating systems along with ReadyFlow BSP drivers and software examples, fully installed and tested.

It’s an interesting concept, and one that I’m sure others will be adopting.